I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to financial systems and to systems and methods for processing financial information. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for processing financial information, such that the processing determines an indication of the likelihood that a reported or stated income is likely to be faulty.
II. Background and Material Information
When a borrower applies for a loan, the borrower may complete a loan application that includes, among other things, the borrower's income. This self-reported (or stated) income represents the borrower's current income.
When the lender subsequently processes the borrower's loan application, the lender may not have ready access to information that verifies the borrower's stated income. If the lender seeks to process the loan rapidly, which is usually the case, for example, in the Internet environment, the lender may process the loan and make a decision to approve or reject the loan based on the income stated by the borrower on the loan application. Also, mortgage lenders may have mortgage loan programs with few, if any, documentation requirements. These low (or no) documentation loan programs may use a borrower's stated income in their lending decision. Moreover, these mortgage programs may need to make an “on-the-spot” decision to approve a mortgage application while the borrower is present without requiring the borrower to return home to search for tax returns, pay stubs, or W-2s. As a result, the lender has an interest in determining quickly and cheaply the veracity of income, whether self-reported by the borrower or reported by another entity as a valid representation of income.